The first installment,

...

These two desperados were extremely dangerous. Qin Fang repeatedly stressed to Ning Yumo to be careful, or even better, to stay out of this matter entirely by transferring to a more peaceful department…

Ning Yumo didn't want to delve into this subject and simply told Qin Fang to be careful on his journey. The two briefly discussed recent events before parting ways.

"Brother Qiang, please try to persuade Sister Ning..."

After hesitating for a moment, Qin Fang still decided to give Ning Weiqiang a call and informed him about the situation. He guessed that Ning Weiqiang probably wasn't aware of it; otherwise, he would never have let Ning Yumo get involved.

"Is that really happening? Okay, I understand!"

Just as Qin Fang had anticipated, Ning Weiqiang had indeed not known that the Ninghai Police were handling this case and immediately expressed his intention to find a way to pull Ning Yumo out.

He was Ning Yumo's brother, and now that he was aware of the situation, he certainly wouldn't let her fall into danger. One must know that Song Gang and Cao Chun were no ordinary criminals.

Even though Qin Fang had informed Ning Weiqiang, he still felt a bit uneasy, so he made a call to Shen Liang. Shen Liang was no longer just a security guard at the Sawmill Factory but also served as Qin Fang's bodyguard.

"Brother Liang, have a couple of brothers act covertly and be careful!"

By now, six of Shen Liang's comrades had arrived and were temporarily placed in the security company. The acquisition there had already reached a preliminary understanding, just not officially contracted yet.

"No problem, I'll arrange it right away!"

Shen Liang immediately affirmed there would be no issue. He should have been the one personally responsible for this, but in the end, Qin Fang decided to keep Shen Liang with him, as there were times when he needed someone who could be of help, especially since Shen Liang was more familiar with the Western Shu Military Region than Qin Fang due to his service in the army.

...

The Martial Arts Conference was to be held in Xishu Province, a considerable distance from Eastern Jiangnan Province where Qin Fang and his group were. However, it could also not be considered too far away.

One could take a plane directly from Ninghai to Jincheng, the capital of Xishu Province, and then transfer to the destination.

Alternatively, one could take a boat along the Yangtze River all the way there.

"Driving there?"

To Qin Fang's surprise, his master Cai Pingyuan had chosen neither of these routes and instead wanted to drive there… This made Qin Fang quite puzzled.

He looked it up online: from Ninghai to Jincheng was nearly two thousand kilometers, and then there was the transfer to the destination, totaling more than two thousand kilometers. Just driving would take at least a full 24 hours to arrive.

"Didn't I tell you? We need to visit a few old friends along the way…" Cai Pingyuan said with a smile as he lightly tapped Qin Fang's forehead.

Of course, Qin Fang hadn't forgotten that, but he assumed these visits were to seniors in Xishu. Now it seemed they would need to make several stops along the way.

With ten days left until the Martial Arts Conference, their travel plans still allowed for plenty of time, so Qin Fang understood and nodded in agreement.

"Xiao Qing, you and Qin Fang go and move the things we need to take onto the car…"

As the master and the leader of the trip, Cai Pingyuan naturally gave the orders, leisurely sitting in the yard drinking tea while others did the hard labor.

Even if the two, Qin Fang and Cai Qing, weren't enough, he had many strong disciples to command.

Qin Fang looked at Cai Qing with a wry smile, but it was clear that the physical labor ultimately fell on him. He couldn't let a woman carry things, even if she was fiercer than a tiger.

The items they were carrying weren't many, but they were peculiar because they were not heavy yet required careful handling to prevent them from breaking. They were jars of aged wine, and just by looking at the jars, one could tell the wine was old.

"Grandpa, is all this wine? How come I've never seen it?"

Cai Qing was also curious; she was clearly unaware where Cai Pingyuan had procured so many jars of wine.

The jars looked ancient, yet they lacked the kind of earth that would suggest they were excavated, implying they must have been kept in a cellar—a cellar Cai Qing should have known about.

"Of course, it's all wine, and it's all old wine at that!"

Cai Pingyuan chuckled, "Only this old man knows where the wine is hidden. Otherwise, those rascals would have sneaked in and drunk it all..."

Cai Qing laughed upon hearing this, as she could understand the situation.

Her grandfather Cai Pingyuan loved wine, and many of his sons and apprentices were fond of wine too. It was said that years ago, the old man brought back a sixty-year-old bottle of Maotai from a trip, which he cherished immensely, drinking only a small glass each time. But to his dismay, his three sons secretly consumed half of the bottle, leading to the old man chasing them around the yard with a rattan cane...

"Master, how many years old is it?"

Qin Fang was also curious. Through the seal, he could only faintly smell a hint of the wine's aroma, quite mellow and fragrant, so he couldn't help but ask.

"These are all thirty-year-old Shaoxing Huadiao! This was brewed back when Xiao Qing's grandmother was still alive..."

Cai Pingyuan smiled, "If you want some, I'll bring you a few jars when we come back..."

"Thank you, Master..."

Qin Fang immediately became cheerful. This thirty-year-old vintage was a real treasure, definitely not something the ordinary so-called aged wines on the market could compare to.

The Cai Family was a martial arts family. Their wines were brewed using traditional ancient methods, and while they might not have the alcohol content of today's strong spirits, their flavor and palatability were really superior.

It seemed that this was the reason Cai Pingyuan had specifically brought them along for a meeting with an old friend he hadn't seen in many years. The fact that even Cai Qing didn't know about them revealed how long they had been cellared.

After storing the wines securely, Cai Pingyuan then retrieved a box from the old house. He carried it in his hands this time, treating it as if it was something very precious.

Qin Fang was somewhat curious, but seeing that Cai Pingyuan had half-closed his eyes, he didn't ask further. He immediately got into the car with Cai Qing, then drove off in his Audi Q7, heading straight on the road.

"Master, where's our first stop?"

Even though they only had one car, Qin Fang and Cai Qing could take turns driving, so it wouldn't be too tiring, even though Qin Fang himself didn't mind a bit of hardship.

"Lushan!"

Without even opening his eyes, Cai Pingyuan simply uttered two words.

"Alrighty!"

Once he had a destination, Qin Fang quickly set the route, and the car immediately sped off in the direction of Lushan.

As for Shen Liang, he was driving a car behind Qin Fang, keeping pace without rush or delay, yet not attracting any attention.

Qin Fang was filled with boundless anticipation for this martial arts tournament, hoping to encounter more experts. If there was a chance, sparring with these experts would definitely be a highlight.

The truth was, there were fewer and fewer martial artists nowadays, and even if one had great martial skills, they still feared the kitchen knife, let alone a gun.

Qin Fang had even asked his master, Cai Pingyuan, whether a martial arts expert could withstand a bullet. The answer was negative.

After all, humans are made of flesh and blood. Even a grandmaster-level expert who had honed their martial arts to perfection, if struck by a bullet, would still be injured, bleed, and potentially lose their life...

Of course, once someone grew stronger, their body's reaction speed would also become much faster, with an innate sense of danger, and some even could react in the instant their enemy fired a gun, dodging bullets swiftly to the extent that they no longer feared them.

Unfortunately, that's an idealized situation.

One may dodge a single bullet, but what about two, three, ten, or a hundred? Any of these could turn a person into a sieve. It would be impossible to dodge them all.

Qin Fang, a person with special strength, even if he perfected the Strong Body Technique and mastered the Tough Skin Technique to a very high level, might survive one bullet. However, if an enemy were to shoot him with a machine gun or blast him with a bomb, no amount of lives would be enough; healing couldn't outpace the damage.

Nevertheless, Qin Fang was still eager to elevate his level quickly, to ensure his life's safety and to gain even stronger abilities.

Undoubtedly, sparring with experts was now a major way for Qin Fang to level up, since there were few creatures like the Golden Crested Snake, an LV5 BOSS, available for him to kill.

Even if he did encounter such a BOSS again, defeating it above his level would still require a gun, and the experience gained would need to be discounted.

Thinking of the Golden Crested Snake made Qin Fang think of the Pet Egg in his Props Box.

The Pet Egg had left Qin Fang quite puzzled. Although it was quiet in the Props Box, he seemed to be beset by a strange compulsion from it.

It was this impulse that made Qin Fang wonder if he should hatch the Pet Egg to see what was going on...

Yet he worried that hatching it might release an extremely dangerous Golden Crested Snake that he couldn't control. If someone were accidentally bitten by it, failure to treat quickly could easily lead to death.

"Maybe I'll try when we get to Lushan? If it doesn't work out, I can just kill it or set it free..."

Hatching it worried Qin Fang, but not doing so felt oddly sinister. He was beset with unusual impulses—physical or psychological—and he even felt that the instability of his temper in the past few days was caused by it.

After some thought, Qin Fang decided to hatch it. If he didn't clear up what it was all about, he would always be uneasy. He feared the impulse would grow stronger, and if one day he lost his own nature, that would truly be troublesome...

Lushan seemed like a great place to do it: serene, elegant, a pleasant environment with enough mountain area. If it did turn out to be a dangerous viper, releasing it would be a very good option. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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